We spent the first seven days of July in Nicaragua with Empowerment International and The Giving Lens. It was an incredible experience. We fell in the love with the children, their families, and the EI volunteers – who were always so generous with their smiles and their hearts.

These two little beauties were still in bed when we arrived with our cameras early one morning. They weren’t quite ready to get up, so I captured a few shots of them as they shook off their sleepiness.

Because of the dim light inside the home, I took this photo with my Canon 5D Mk III at it’s highest ISO setting of 25600, and with my lens wide open at f/2.8. I used a shutter speed of 1/50 because I could hold the camera relatively steady for the photograph, and the girls weren’t moving around. As expected, the image was very noisy, so I increased the luminance in Adobe Camera RAW to reduce the noise overall. The result is a smooth image with beautiful details. I’m thoroughly impressed with the Mk IIIs high ISO capabilites, and I’m so glad I had that camera on this morning!

For more information about Empowerment International, please visit their website at www.empowermentinternational.org. Even a small donation can make a big difference!

For more information on The Giving Lens, check out their website at www.thegivinglens.com. They have lots of trips coming up! Maybe there’s one that’s right for you! :)